OP-ED: Why Videogames Can Never Fully Capture the Wonderful World of Pro Wrestling

The objectives of pro wrestlers and videogame players are at odds with one another.

Professional wrestling is fake. This we all (I hope) know, although the existence of Internet ads teasing an answer to the question of 'Are WWE fights staged?' makes me hesitant to assume anything. I bring this fact up not to spark a debate about how some aspects of wrestling truly are real (there's a reason WWE doesn't let guys hit each other in the head with chairs anymore), but as the reason for why wrestling simulation videogames can never hope to fully recreate wrestling. How can a scripted sporting event be acted out without all of its participants being in on the ruse?

I tend to be fairly good at wrestling games, at least when it comes to squaring off against the AI. Over time I learn what works and what doesn't, and pretty quickly I find myself with ability to take down a computer opponent without him getting much offense in, if any at all. In professional wrestling such a match would be called a squash. Squashes do have their purpose, as they can be used to establish an individual as being dominant and help him or her to stand out in some way. But this is thankfully not the formula followed by your average match, or else wrestling would get boring in a big hurry.

Those who don't follow wrestling closely and think little goes into the planning of a match would be mistaken -- there is a lot more going on than opponents exchanging punches and suplexes in the middle of the ring. Psychology plays a significant role, with wrestlers seeking to elicit reactions from the crowd at certain times. Your typical match will see the good guy (the "face") take an extended beating from the bad guy (the "heel") at some point before making a comeback. A tag team match will invariably see this sequence play out where one member of the face team get beaten up before finally tagging in his partner (a "hot tag") who then runs wild and takes out both opponents. Submissions are worked in to give the wrestlers a breather, and various high spots (say, a big move off the top rope) are thrown in from time to time to keep things exciting.

With the benefit of knowing what the finish of a match will be, the participants know what direction to work in and can tease things accordingly. This might mean one guy jumps off the top rope and tweaks a knee that ends up costing him the match or is used as deception to throw off the opposition, or it could mean the referee takes a hit and is not there to do his job at a critical moment. The overriding point is that cooperation by everyone involved is key. None of this would be possible if the wrestlers in the match were actually acting as if they were really in a fight.

In an unscripted videogame, anything can happen. For any other sport this would not be an issue -- nobody knows how things will go and there is nothing in particular that needs to be accomplished, as is the case in a wrestling match -- and in fact that unpredictability is one of the strengths of sports and sports videogames. However, this doesn't work quite so well when trying to simulate a pro wrestling match because there is a disconnect between what wrestlers and players want. Wrestlers want to put on as good a show as possible, something which hinges on all of the participants "selling," or making their opponent's moves look effective. Players, on the other hand, want to win at all costs. So unless players are willing to follow a script instead of relentlessly beating up their opponent, the end result may look more like a boring squash match than your classic Wrestlemania main event.

WWE likes to avoid classifying itself as wrestling -- CM Punk, who is positioned as the guy who speaks his mind and is the "voice of the voiceless," makes it a point of using the term 'professional wrestling' liberally -- instead preferring to use terms like 'sports entertainment' and 'superstars.' But it is pro wrestling, regardless of how much that rubs its monarch, Vince McMahon, the wrong way, and that means its line of THQ-published videogames faces these problems just as WCW/NWO Revenge, No Mercy, and Raw all did before it. Except now, with the game inching closer and closer toward looking and sounding like the real-life thing (save for the "oh my God!" chant seen in the latest WWE '13trailer -- never have I heard a crowd opt to chant that in lieu of the classic "ho-ly shit!"), this is more of an issue than ever before.

When I've invariably run into the scenario I laid out above, where I find myself defeating AI opponents without getting a scratch myself, turning up the difficulty seems like the obvious solution. (Simply playing against other humans is not always an option, as few of my friends continue to care for wrestling and the online support in the Smackdown vs. Raw/WWE franchise is notoriously bad. It's also not an option for the single-player story content.) Jacking up the difficulty tends to result in a frustrating experience where the AI can counter nearly every move of yours. An alternative approach I've tried is to drag out the length of matches; sometimes in the context of the story it makes sense for a beating to last for a long time. What this does is provide the AI with the opportunity to get the upper hand and get some offense in without me deliberately allowing it to do so. Where this goes wrong is when I've spent the better part of 25 minutes kicking the crap out of my opponent who is able to do just enough damage and pin me, which means I need to repeat the entire match if it's one the story requires me to win.

The entire notion of telling a story in a wrestling game is problematic in the first place due to the need for a certain outcome to be reached. This requires players to either continually repeat a match over and over until they win, or it means doing what we've seen in years past, which is having a cutscene take control and push things in the right direction. The latter, while effective, has always felt unfair and out of place inside of a videogame that otherwise provides complete freedom, even if it is a videogame based on a fake sport. According to what we've already heard about WWE '13, THQ appears to be trying to work around this by implementing an objective system, which is perhaps an acknowledgement on their part that it's just not possible to provide players with the freedom to wrestle a match as they see fit and still arrive at a single destination (at least not without a very extensive branching storyline, something that currently isn't in the cards).

One new feature in WWE '13 that may mitigate the problem with the wrestling itself is the Match Experience option. This allows players (or the developers in the story mode) to select from different options that affect the pacing of the match. In theory, by selecting options conducive to a longer bout, there would be more opportunity for you and the computer to get in your respective offenses without running into a situation like the one I found myself in where you can easily lose even after unleashing an all-time ass-whipping. Whether it actually works out like that or ends up shortening or extending the length of your squash matches remains to be seen.

I'm looking forward to seeing WWE '13 as a finished product and whether it manages to tackle any of these problems effectively; at the very least, it could make the journey through storylines smoother than in years past. As for the wrestling itself, the best approach could be to look at the games more like beat-em-ups starring WWE wrestlers than a simulation of the real deal. For a proper pro wrestling experience, it might be better to follow the advice of the company's PSAs and not try this at home.

Comments (19)

Storylines

The N64 days of Pro-Wrestling related games are still the benchmark. I think what a lot of developers don't understand is that if you give us a good play mechanic and the ability to customize, wrestling fans will fill in the blanks. I recall making up pretty wild storylines for out Nitro N64 gaming days that required no input from the games other than the ability to have the matches.

If WWE or TNA could create a game that was more "open architecture" in it's approach and not try to have set storylines, we'd all be happier.

I think the aspect of qualifying the crowd interaction is the only big step forward modern wrestling games have made. Everything else seems to be sad variations on a theme.

So disappointed in the author of this...

I take offense to the word "fake" and the fact that you even brought it up. It's horrible how nobody watches anything else on tv or on broadway and says "this is fake". Why? Because you suspend your disbelief, in dragons, warlocks all other kinds of nonsense and enjoy it. Those that understand pro wrestling, do this as well, others question because they honestly don't know. Those who have never stepped foot in the ring have no idea the pain that a wrestler endure...

/Rant

On the gaming front, I've been a supporter of most of the games since I can remember. Not one to play with the characters on the game, me and a small group, which eventually died out, made our own CAWs and did our own thing. It's possible to make realistic matches but you have to "work" them, because these games are technically fighting games.

I stopped at 2011, boycotting not to buy any more WWE games, due to them removing a crap ton (over 1000, 3000 if you count the previous games) of moves, only to leave them on the disc, where hackers could unlock some of them for use. The moves make the game. You don't need voice overs, you just need imagination. There is a small amount of people that play online that will sim a match with you. Working a match until it gets to a certain point and then both guys just know, that it's winner take all from that point on. I had one match...ONE, on 2011 that was one of the most epic matches I've ever witnessed, videogame or live, and I've seen a lot of matches. All because 2 people that understood how a wrestling match works, worked a match with a phenomenal story from start to finish, without ever speaking to each other.

Maybe the answer lies within the multiplayer. The online for these games are rubbish because even in Player matches (non ranked) people play to win like their lives depend on it. If there was a way to implement a ranking system based upon how the match played out, similar to Kings of Colisseum or some other Japanese games, it would force people to have fun with the game by having a good match, and not by steamrolling the competition.

Who knows, but as long as WWE has the monopoly on wrestling games, they are going to suck. No matter how much nostalgia and trinkets they throw in. Because everybody knows each year, they remove something everyone liked, then 3 years later throw it back in as "NEW!", and screw it up.

Hope is lost as long as THQ has this license. Yukes can make unbelievable wrestling games when left up to their own accord.

Umm did you stop reading after the word fake or something?

He didn't imply at all that it some of the stuff done isn't physically demanding or that people don't get hurt doing it.

His point was It's not a sport, yet the video games treat it like one. The goal of the games is to destory everyone Goldberg style and win the WWE title, not tell compelling stories. Basically the games pretend WWE is MMA.

The author wants a game where he can tell a story in during the match(such as having a "leg injury" early in the match and have that play a part in the finish), and/or tell a story over several matches with a feud.

Fire Pro Wrestling Returns For Ps2 has the answer

In Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, you can tweak the 'psychological aspects' of the hundreads of wrestlers featured in the game (*no seriously, there are over 500 unique wrestlers and MMA fighters in the game from the 60's to present day). Using behavioral variables on a scale of 1-10 or 0 to 100 you can determine such factors like whether or not the wrestler uses weapons, fights inside the ring vs brawling outside the ring, or what techniques are used (submission wrestler vs a grappler, high flyer vs a striker ect). When you match a Kurt Angle (1996 Olympic Gold medalist) vs Catus Jack (hardcore legend), the differences in the type of matches you have really adds to the in ring psychology. You can literally spend hours tweaking a wrestlers moves, behaviors, and appearance. Applying a similar metric to a game with modern graphics (Fire Pro is pretty much Dreamcast graphics) I could see this formula working.

It can be done.

Just because the player doesn't know what's going on doesn't mean the outcome cannot be controled. Think of battles in some of the older RPGs where you were put in a fight that you just couldn't win. You didn't know that at the time, but the fact of the matter is that you just couldn't win that match. A "story" could be done that way. Or you can allow the player to subconsciously dictate a story with they way they play. It could start off as simple as someone coming out after a match because the player beat their opponent too badly or was too vicious or what not. Since most wrestling storylines are based on feuds, it culd be done that way. The biggest issue with wrestling games in creating stories is that there's no real build up anymore. In Raw 2 you could talk trash, attack people back stage and all sorts of stuff. For all of it's flaws, it's "story" mode was excellent. Also you could require different things of players to get title shots. Like instead of just going by win/loss records, going by star rating of matches. Each match would be evaluated using a star system like in some of the old GM modes. Only once a character has picked up enough stars or crossed some sort of threshold, would they be allowed to compete for a title. That way it becomes as important to put on a good match or to do extraordinary things, as it does to win. You might get more stars losing a good match than you would winning a bad match.

You can make "rivalries" in the games now, but there is no real end to it. There's no defining moment or final match that makes it significant. I personally would suggest a system where once you start a rivalry with someone you have a series of matches and other exchanges to build that rivalry. Depending on the quality of exchanges and matches you'd get a certain star value or other kind of value. These would be bonus stars for the final match in the rivalry. Once the match is over, the winner gets the star value of the match + the bonus stars, the loser gets the star value of the match, but they lose an amount of stars equal to the number of bonus stars accumulated by the rivalry. Assuming that stars lead up to the title.

Finally there are hundreds of different story lines the WWE and other promotions have run. It would be simple to just let the player play a few matches and then insert the player into storylines that the character fits the criteria for. Hell you could even use managers the same way they did writers in some of the GM modes to help a player choose certain storylines by guiding them through the criteria necessary to attain said stories. A story can look alot different if you just throw some different characters in it. You could recreat some Austin vs Vince or Austin vs The Rock moments, but disguse them by simply using whatever finisher the opponent character uses instead of the Stunner. That way it wouldn't neccessarily be perfectly clear what's going on to the average player.

The problem isn't the medium. The problem is lack of creativity and the advent of voice acting for superstars. Voice takes up too much time and space. With text all you need are writers. The only issue with text is conveying emotions and with the prevalence of text messaging, it's becoming more and more acceptable to convey emotions with ALL CAPS or !!!!Exclaimation Marks!!!!!! Combine that with face modeling and scripted sequences and you have an easy way to make stories. The truth is that you can get rid of voice acting. It's not too late to put that genie back in it's box. You just have to come out with an extraordinary story mode. Or they could only voice major story points, instead of voicing all the stories. For minor story points use text, but during major scenes of major story points, they could use voice. Just use the voice sliders that they use in some games, that way the player can have some control over what their character sounds like.

Okay I've rambled long enough on this subject, but I've had a system for designing wrestling storylines on the fly for videogames for years, so I know it can be done. It's even better because it can surprise the player.

PS: You can force a loss several ways. One is by just making the opponent kick out all the time which is kind of annoying, the other way is to make the opponent do more damage than normal. All of these things can be done without the player's knowledge. There are no numbers flying out or anything during most wrestling games. Also you can do input reading so that the computer counters more or just counters at very critcal moments...like counters the players special, get one of their own and bang. I've had matches in WWE 12' where the computer just seemed to be on it's game. It doesn't have to be as obvious as they've made it in the past. The point is to control the outcome, not the let the player know that the outcome is controlled. If you make the system dynamic enough, you can even bounce the player out of one storyline and into another based on the outcome of certain matches, so even if the player does win, it's not a complete loss.

FUCK THE THQ FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE THQ SAN DIEGO!!!

THE THQ SAN DIEGO MAKE BEST WRESTLING GAME SINCE THE NINTENDO 64 WWE ALL STARS! THE THQ SAN DIEGO MAKE FUN WRESTLING GAME AND DESERVE SEQUEL! SHUTTING THE THQ SAN DIEGO DOWN IS FACKING BULLSHIT! SURE THEY FUCK UP PUTTING JABRONI DREW MCINTYRE IN INSTEAD OF SHEIKIE BABY BUT THAT NO REASON TO FIRE THE THQ SAN DIEGO! THQ SAN DIEGO I LOVE YOU! YOU MAKE LEGENDARY GAME! I SPIT ON NO GOOD JABRONIS AT THQ FOR SHUTTING YOU DOWN *HHHHOCK POOEY*!!!!!

I woNder if

There would be an audience for a simulation wrestling game. Kind of like the soccer club simulators out there. You would have to pull off rehearsed moves an act out the match and you performance would be you grade. With the goal of becoming the champ or amass a certain amount of money. Maybe the Japanese have done this but I would find it interesting. Maybe even have some Rpg like elements. You could make choices like becoming a heel or a face but the matches would be played out with a predetermined outcome and you performance doing the moves would determine your success. Throw in some free styling elements to build crowd hype. Hell even a wresting rhythm game mechanic might work. I would play something like that. The only two wrestling games I ever enjoyed we're the SMS pro wrestling game and the arcade WWF multiplayer game from the late eighties.

I sure hope THQ

gets it right with this game. I am not quite sure how they intend to implant their "objective" system, but I hope it is similar to one of those stealth/action type games. Where you can be rewarded for playing a certain style such as being flashy and doing a lot of over the top moves or opt to instead have a solid grappling clinic. It would also be neat if they told you to lose a match and to lose it in a certain way in order to advance the story line in some branching off path. Also what the previous poster said about appealing to the audience sounds pretty good too. Imagine playing in the ECW bingo hall and you had to do an over the top thing like use a cheese grader on your opponents face and toss him through 2 flaming tables and then having chairs thrown in by the dozens in the ring! EXTREEEEEEEEEME

LOL

Wrestling being fake shouldn't affect the games.

People don't play movie-based tie ins expecting to play as the actors acting out the film. They expect to play out the actions of the film. Wrestling is no different.Wrestling fans tend to know its all fake but thats not what goes through their head as they watch. They want to imagine its real. For that reason there isn't much of an audience for a wrestling-sim other than perhaps would be wrestlers.I'm sure wrestling games have featured some form of "audience mode" where the aim is to impress the audience with the varied nature of the fight instead of your ability to annihilate the opposition. Maybe I'm wrong but such a mode has certainly never been at the forefront of any game.

This is false.

Wrestling fans are more like theater critics, than sports fans. They go to see a good story, not go to suspend their disbelief and watch an athletic competition. When the game inevitably changes hands when THQ goes under, I hope the new devs make it a true sim and have your success of failure tied to whether you effectively tell your story in the ring, and not continue to force fans to live a lie. It's disingenious.